So here’s my theory on a reasonable amount of Michael Bay movies. All of them are over the top when it comes to action. That much we know. But my theory is this. Whenever you see a Michael Bay movie for the very first time in the theater, it’s usually pretty darned good and you get caught up in emotion. You actually forget about how ridiculous the actual lines and plots are and let yourself just escape reality and believe what the movie is telling you. It’s the “movie theater” effect. Every single time you see a movie in the theater it’s 100 times better than if you saw it at home. There’s no better example of this than Armageddon.
If you break down this film from an academic and “cheesy” perspective it doesn’t get any dumber or more cheesy. Let’s forget about the whole having to drill on a comet moving a billion miles an hour and using a space armadillo to hyperjet over a canyon bigger than the Grand Canyon to find your friends who are miraculously still alive in space after nearly blowing up from the gases. Seriously, let’s forget all of that. Let’s forget the plot that an oil driller and his crew can learn to be astronauts in 8 days and save the entire world. Seriously, let’s forget all of that. Because these are the things you realize AFTER you watch the movie. These are the things you think of when all is said and done and you actually go back and watch the movie again.
But the first time? The first time I saw Armageddon I wept like a baby. In particular? Three scenes. The first is when Chick stops by his ex wife’s house and drops off an astronaut toy for his son. When he walks from the door after telling his wife he’ll be doing something “big” I couldn’t contain myself. The second is when Chick gets off the shuttle and his son is there to greet him. I couldn’t contain myself. And finally, when Harry tells A.J. that he always thought of him as a son just as he’s about to sacrifice himself to save the world. I couldn’t contain myself.
I just had to get that out and let you all know that I cried during Armageddon and if it’s your first time seeing the movie, you will too.
Spoilers below (obviously) but here’s the Harry and A.J. scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45T7WKZ5BJw
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